Republican Bob McDonnell wins Virginia governor's race easily

Former Virginia Attorney General Robert McDonnell (R) is the governor-elect of the Commonwealth after winning a race focused on local issues, rather than national dynamics.

McDonnell defeated state Sen. Creigh Deeds (D), according to early election results. The Associated Press said McDonnell had won easily.

Republicans have cast the race for governor as a referendum on President Barack Obama’s early tenure, arguing that the race is the first in a series of comebacks for the party. Others have said it shows voters are willing to give the GOP a second look, just a year removed from devastating electoral losses.

Both parties will also be watching returns in New Jersey’s contest for governor, and the race for an open House seat in New York. Republicans are hoping to sweep the three contests.

McDonnell had looked the winner in Virginia for weeks, and national Democrats had already begun to try to distance themselves from the losing candidate by criticizing Deeds even before voters headed to the polls. Unnamed White House advisors said the state senator had not followed Obama’s or Gov. Tim Kaine's (D) roadmap to victory.

McDonnell was partly able to win by mitigating his own losses in areas where Democrats have made inroads in recent wins. President Obama and Sens. Jim Webb (D) and Mark Warner (D) all won Arlington County and Alexandria City with more than 70 percent of the vote while carrying Fairfax, Loudoun and Prince William Counties.

Obama won Northern Virginia with 61 percent of the vote, while Deeds fell far short of that mark.

McDonnell ran his own race, eschewing social issues that have long been part of the Republican strategy. Instead, he focused on his plans to bring jobs to the state, as well as a plan to ease transportation woes.

Deeds, meanwhile, focused on a thesis McDonnell wrote as a graduate student more than two decades ago in which he called working women “detrimental” to families. The tactic worked briefly, closing what had been a large gap between the two, but McDonnell reasserted himself and eventually pulled away.

McDonnell, too, ran an unorthodox campaign. He eschewed a reliance on social issues that have hurt Republicans in recent years, focusing instead on local issues.

Meanwhile, while McDonnell campaigned with former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and other GOP rising stars, he avoided several of the most controversial figures in his party. McDonnell did not fully embrace former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R), who only inserted herself in the race's final weekend with a series of robo-calls.

The loss will be a setback for Kaine, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee and still a popular incumbent. But it fits with historical patterns; the party that has won the White House has subsequently lost the Virginia governorship in every election since 1977.

Though complete election results have not yet poured in, Republicans are also expected to add to their 12-seat advantage in the House of Delegates and their 23-seat caucus in the state Senate.